The Czech Republic is headed for a change at the helm with the centrist party led by Prime Minister Andrej Babis losing the parliamentary election. The outcome is a surprising development that could mean the eclipse of the popular billionaire’s tenure in power.

For the head of government, the election to fill 200 seats in the Lower House of the nation’s parliament was held at an unpropitious time, specifically after the International Consortium of Inestigative Journalists exposed details of the Prime Minister’s overseas financial dealings in a project named as the “Pandora Papers”.

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The 67-year-old Babis has denied any wrongdoing. Almost all the votes have been counted and the party named “Together”, a three-party coalition, has captured 27.8 per cent of the votes. It has defeated Babis’ ANO (Yes) party, which won 27.1 per cent of the votes. The psephological swing, therefore, has an anti-incumbency connotation.

In yet another setback for the populist leader, another centre-left-liberal coalition of the Pirate Party and STAN, a group of mayors, received 15.6 per cent of the vote to occupy the third slot. The two democratic coalitions have gained a majority and thus have a chance to form a majority government, according to Petr Fiala, Together’s leader and its candidate for Prime Minister.

Five Opposition parties with policies closer to the European Union’s mainstream compared with the populist Babis, had put aside their differences in this election to set up the two coalitions. They are straining every nerve to oust the eurosceptic Prime Minister from power. The result implies a major change of politics in the Czech Republic, just as it probably will in Angela Merkel’s Germany.

The outcome will hopefully stabilize the country’s position in the Western camp. Unfortunately, however, the Czech President, Milos Zeman, was rushed to hospital the day after the country held the parliamentary election. The President has a key role in putting in place a new government. The Czech presidency is a largely ceremonial post, but the President has the right to choose the political leader who can try to form the next government.

Shortly before he was hospitalised, President Zeman met Babis, his close ally. While the winning coalition got a majority of 108 seats in the 200-seat House and pledged to work together, President Zeman indicated that he would first appoint the leader of the strongest party ~ not the strongest coalition ~ to try to form the next government.

Despite the clear-cut margin of victory, the Czech Republic seems headed for a bout of political uncertainty. With the President in hospital, formation of an effective government might get delayed. If Babis is allowed the first chance to form government, he will need to be defeated in Parliament before the coalition can come to power.